Heart of Steel

A Beautiful Stranger

I opened my eyes again, almost instantly this time, expecting to be half blinded by the light above my head, but it wasn't turned on. Instead there was a much dimmer light illuminating the bottom half of the room around me that seemed to originate from the wall behind the bed. My eyes roamed around the room until they discovered a pair of black leather boots attached to two long blue jean clad legs that were resting against the side of a light tan chair in the corner of the room, about 6 feet from the bed. The legs belonged to a breathtakingly gorgeous man whose slackened facial features were overwhelmingly beautiful, yet masculine at the same time. He had light brown hair that was almost non-existent and a very thin line of hair on his jawline that lead to a thin goatee and bordered a 5 o'clock shadow. Even with the small amount of light touching his face I could see that his eyelashes were thick and long. His nose was slightly crooked in the very middle, but it suited him perfectly. His skin was fairly tan and looked very smooth. He was wearing a dark red cotton short-sleeved shirt that had a v-shaped neckline, and there was a black leather jacket draped on the back of the chair behind him. His arms were bulging with thick muscles and I could see the outline of his abdominal muscles underneath his shirt. He looked like some sort of model.

Beautiful.

I nodded, silently agreeing with the voice inside my head as I continued to drink in the pristine image of him. I had absolutely no clue who he was or why he was here, but I didn't care. He was perfect in every way. I was almost terrified that he would wake up because something told me that if I took one look into the eyes behind those lids, I would never want to look anywhere else again.

I blinked several times, taking in the fact that the light directly above me had been turned back on, and then remembered the beautiful stranger that had been in my room the last time I had woken up. Sunlight beamed through the window to my right, enlightening the whole room and deeming the fluorescent light above me rather unnecessary. My eyes found the chair that I had previously seen the unknown man in, but to my simultaneous disappointment and relief, it was empty. Although the chair looked exactly as I remembered it, I began to question whether he had been real or a figment of my imagination. Maybe it had just been a wonderful dream.

I decided to try moving my fingers again and was taken aback when I looked down and saw a gleaming diamond ring on the finger next to the pinkie of my left hand. The middle stone was round, the band covered in several small but brilliantly shining diamonds. I gasped, wondering how it had made its way onto my finger, especially because it hadn't been there the last time that I had looked at my hands. The door to my room opened suddenly, jolting me out of my reverie, and a short blonde nurse with hot pink rhinestone glasses and a matching lanyard bounced into the room. She was wearing teal colored scrubs and had her hair in a messy bun. She let out a surprised squeal when she saw that I was awake and hastened to my bedside. The name on her badge said, “Nicole Walker, RN”.

"Kasey!" she exclaimed. I blinked in confusion, only having been addressed as Miss Wilson thus far, but then the voice inside my head showed up again.

That's your first name.

I hesitated, unsure of what to say to her.

"Hi." I said, staring at her with wide eyes, a little confused as to why she was calling me by my first name.

As if reading my mind, she blurted out a quick explanation.

"Sorry, I knew you before your accident. We went to High School together! It's hard for me to remember to call you Miss Wilson. I'm Nicole, but everyone calls me Nikki. How are you feeling?"

"Uh... okay, I guess." I croaked.

"You should be drinking plenty of ice water. The fluids we're administering will keep you hydrated, but the water will help saturate your vocal cords." she said as she picked up the large cup and brought the straw to my lips.

I took a long, refreshing sip, able to stand it a little better than the last time, and then smiled in appreciation.

"Thank you. Nikki, do you know where this came from?" I said very slowly, though I could feel my vocal cords loosening with every word.

I couldn't use my right hand to point to my left, so I just inclined my head towards the ring and stared at it for a few seconds. She stared with me, then comprehension dawned on her pretty, thin face.

"Yes! You were wearing it the night you came in. I placed it in an evidence bag and turned it over to the investigators who were working on your accident, but once they gave it back, I decided to keep it safe for you. I was so excited this morning when I came in and heard you were conscious! But Krystal said you didn't seem to remember what had happened. Many times, when I work with patients who have been unconscious for quite some time, objects they used to be attached to will help them to remember their past. So, I slipped it onto your finger just a couple of minutes ago, right before I left to check on another patient! Do you remember anything yet?"

My brain heard every word she said, but it seemed to be a lot slower at processing her words than she was at spitting them out. I stared at the ring for what seemed like an eternity, then looked up at her and shook my head, a look of defeat on my face.

"Don't worry! It might just take some time!" she said, placing her right hand on my left one.

Her skin was very soft, but I jumped nonetheless, not expecting such friendly contact. What seemed to bug me the most was the fact that I got an excited feeling when I looked at the ring, but I seemed to have absolutely no memories linked to it. When the voice in my head had mentioned my cars and my mom, I immediately saw them inside my head. But I couldn’t see anything now. I shook it off, my mind returning to the words Nikki had spoken about my… accident. That must have been why I was here. But, what kind of accident? Was anyone else hurt? When did this happen?

Calm down. Ask Nikki if she knows anything about it.

"Do you know what happened to me?" I asked her, pleading with my eyes for any information she could give me.

She let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry Kasey. I don't." she said simply.

Crap! Well, if she didn’t know, then who did? Then again, I guess she was only there to do her job as a nurse. She had mentioned investigators… Maybe I could talk to one of them.

"It's okay.” I said, deciding to steer the conversation in a different direction.

“Do you know if... if anyone has been here recently? To see me, I mean?" I asked her. It was getting easier and easier to speak the more I did it. I wanted to know more about the handsome stranger I may or may not have fabricated during my recent, hazy bout of consciousness.

"Well, the only people I've seen visit you are your dad's bodyguards, but they didn't come very often after the first couple of weeks." she said.

My dad's bodyguards? Why were they here? What about him, and my mother? Why didn't they come to visit? I opened my mouth to ask Nikki these questions, but the door suddenly slung open again, causing us both to jump in surprise.

"Well, what a coincidence! Here's one of the guards now!" said Nikki brightly.

My mouth fell open in shock and my eyes widened as my heart began beating wildly, seemingly threatening to escape my chest. It was him, the handsome stranger I had seen sleeping in the chair, dressed exactly as I had remembered him. He stopped abruptly upon seeing the look on my face, eyebrows raised in apparent apprehension, then shook his head almost unnoticeably and cleared his throat, brows furrowing in a business-like manner. He was holding a white paper cup in his hands with a white plastic lid that had the most magnificent smell wafting from it into the air circulating around the room.

Coffee!

Ahh, coffee. I remembered that! Visions of jam-packed cafes simply radiating with that smell and beautiful sunrises from the swing of a large wooden deck with a coffee mug in my hand danced around my head.

Memories.

"Good… Good morning, Miss Wilson." said the man stiffly.

"I'm uh, Mr. Steelman. Your father will be most pleased to hear that you're awake." he said, very matter-of-factly.

‘Hello.’ was all I could manage to say. I was suddenly extremely nervous and all too aware that I probably looked like hell. If I had remembered Dr. Mooney's words correctly, I had been unconscious for around six months. The man narrowed his eyes in thought, staring at a space on the wall behind me, then turned to Nikki.

"Could I have a moment alone with Miss Wilson please, Nurse Walker?"

Nikki glanced at me, probably checking to see if I was alright with this. I gave her a small smile and a quick nod.

"Sure thing!" she said, and she turned on her heels and exited the room, chancing one last glance over her shoulder at me before she left.

I liked her. She was very friendly and seemed protective of me. When my eyes roamed back to Mr. Steelman's, he was staring into them with an intensity that made my breath stop. I had been right to think that his eyes would be just as mesmerizing as the rest of him. They were caramel brown with vibrant shades of green stretched across the center.

Hazel.

"Do you, uh... remember... anything, Miss Wilson?" he asked slowly, not breaking eye contact.

The deep, silky tone of his voice made me feel safe and warm. I shook my head slightly.

"I remember my car, and my 18th birthday..." I said quietly.

He breathed out what seemed like a sigh of relief. although his facial features seemed to tighten involuntarily. Just looking at his rigid stance made me feel stiff myself. I decided to try another attempt to move my hands as he brought his coffee cup to his mouth to take a long sip. To my utter amazement, I was able to lift all 10 of my fingers upward, then slowly curl them back towards the bed! They felt like tiny splinters had formed in them over time, but it also felt so good to move them this way. All of a sudden, the bodyguard spewed his mouthful of coffee halfway across the tiled floor, then began choking and retching, beating himself on the chest with a closed fist.

"Mr... Steelman? Are you... alright?" I asked, watching his eyes water with pain as he gasped for breath, trying to calm down and stop choking.